VS adjourned sine die as Yadav ?wins? trust vote

CHIEF MINISTER Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday presented a surplus interim budget for 2007-2008 along with vote on account for first four months declaring that passage of the Appropriation Bill-2006 be treated as a vote of confidence in his government.

CHIEF MINISTER Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday presented a surplus interim budget for 2007-2008 along with vote on account for first four months declaring that passage of the Appropriation Bill-2006 be treated as a vote of confidence in his government.

Yadav announced in the Vidhan Sabha, that was then adjourned sine die, a new support price for sugarcane and increased the Vidhayak Nidhi. Members bid adieu and wished best of luck to one another for the coming Vidhan Sabha elections.

Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey promptly agreed to the CM’s demand and declared that the passage of the Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill-2006 to the tune of nearly Rs 31,521 crore would be treated as a motion of confidence in Mulayam government.

Announcing the new support price for sugarcane, Yadav said a sum of Rs 130 per quintal would be given for advanced variety while Rs 125 per quintal and Rs 122.50 per quintal would be paid for common and late variety. He said the Vidhayak Nidhi would be raised from Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.25 crore. Wishing best of luck to all MLAs, Yadav said members of 14th Vidhan Sabha must feel lucky for having completed full five-year tenure. “This is the last day. We are going to elections after reviving the old traditions that have been set over the years,” said the CM.

Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari took lead to press demand of increasing the Vidhan Nidhi and CM acceded to his request. Tiwari urged Yadav to convene Vidhan Sabha at least for a day for photo session. To this Yadav said he would invite all members for lunch soon.

The sine die adjournment of the Vidhan Sabha brings an end to its much-prolonged Monsoon session that had commenced on August 21, 2006. There were, however, only 15 sittings of the Vidhan Sabha during this period. The State Government had obviously prolonged the session to meet any eventuality that included thwarting any bid to dismiss the government and imposition of President’s rule.

Giving projections for 2007-2008 in the interim budget, the CM said total receipts were estimated to be nearly Rs 90,672 crore while total expenditure was estimated to be about Rs 88,817 crore. Taking into account the receipts of Rs 1,822.55 crore of Public Account, the net balance of all the transactions would be Rs 3,677.19 crore. If opening balance of Rs 2,425.35 crore was taken into account, the net balance would Rs 6,102.54 crore, he said.

This would indicate that the State Government was coming out of red. Much would, however, be clear when next government presented the actual budget for 2007-2008 after the Vidhan Sabha elections.

There were also some moments of discord when the CM presented the interim budget and announced the support price for sugarcane.

BJP members Hukum Singh and Lakshmi Kant Bajpai said the members had not been supplied necessary budget material (as mentioned in the agenda) even when the Appropriation Bill-2006 was being put to vote. When Yadav announced the new sugarcane support price, Singh said, “This government is anti-farmer.

It is doing injustice to farmers who should be paid Rs 200 per quintal.”